[zmatt]

ouch that stinks dude. but good to know at least some broadcom stuff works. how do i find out specifically which one i have without opening the case? Ive looked in device manager and it just says i have a broadcom b/g wifi card

[CalcProgrammer1]

I think you do lspci, that's what I did last time. If you have 7.10 it should automatically detect it and prompt you to download firmware/software (assuming you have an Ethernet or other network connection, otherwise you're gonna have some trouble, maybe you could get the files from another PC from Ubuntu's web-page version of the repository and put it on a CD or floppy or USB drive).

There's a good guide on Ubuntu Forums but I deleted the link from my bookmarks a long time ago (plus I just formatted to install Gutsy, so it would've been erased anyways).

[zmatt]

well currently the laptop is windows xp. but if ubuntu does what you say it will do then there shouldn't be any problem.